UPDATED: Culti Guide - Demon Vs. Sage Archer

Ok, with all the updates with the skills, the new morai skills, and the changes the game has made to gear I thought it was necessary for a new Sage Vs. Demon Archer culti guide to be written. Before writing it though, I’m going to lay out some ground-rules for myself (and commenters).

1. Not an emotional decision – This guide, unlike most others I’ve read, will not be an emotional rant devoid of logic about how what I chose was best and what you chose is stupid cause I’m so damn smart.
2. Territory War/Nation War Oriented – Nothing wrong with PVE, but honestly your culti doesn’t affect PVE success too much, so the guide will be oriented toward the PVP environment. More specifically, toward group PVP environments (TW/NW) and not 1 vs. 1 duels.
3. High rate of attack is the primary advantage – Archers deal damage through a high attack rate augmented by crit rate, not through crit rate alone. Anyone who has long experience with real TWs will attest to the fact that the majority of their kills come from quickly eating away at the HP while the charm is in cooldown, not 1 or 2 shotting the enemy.
4. A 1% increase in base damage output is equal to 1% increase in crit rate. This is just basic math.
5. 10% increase in weapon equals a 2% increase in damage output – For most toons triple sparking doubles their damage output (+500% weapon damage = +100% damage output)
6. PVP beneficial Skills/Differences only – Skills such as damage over time and nock-back will be ignored as well as all other differences that are only good in the PVE environment will be ignored.
7. Max Benefit for both culties – The guide will assume that both the sage and the demon player will do everything they can to maximize the benefit they get from their skills, e.g. not that one culti will gain all the crit rate advantages they can while the other culti will do absolutely nothing to increase crit rate.

OVERVIEW
This is a quick overview of the combination of all the skills and what each cultivation gets over the other one. This should not be used as the only thing to determine your culti as many advantages of each cultivation are not represented here. Make sure to read the detailed skill list below.

SAGE
Max Crit Rate Bonus: +20% (Quickshot, spammable)
Added Base Damage: +5% (15% weapon damage, 10% fire damage)
Added Accuracy: +0%
Added Evasion: +0%
Added Attack Rate: +0%
Range: 34 meters
Other Benefits: Longer Stun with stunning arrow and aim low, more chi gaining abilities, strong 1-shot ability from stealth with Take Aim, additional magic attack skill.


DEMON
Max Crit Rate Bonus: +14% (+2% Bow Mastery, +2% Winged Blessing, +10% Stunning Arrow/Sharptooth Arrow)
Added Base Damage: +0% (+24% for a few seconds after casting blazing arrow)
Added Accuracy: +10% (Winged Blessing)
Added Evasion: +10% (Wings of Protection)
Added Attack Rate: +33% (50% chance with Quickshot, most archers will go from .8 aps to 1.18 aps or .87 aps to 1.25 aps)
Range: 32 meters
Other Benefits: Ability to take chi from enemies, much better Barrage, has a magic attack that never misses


SKILLS
Since the only real difference in the cultivations is the skills one gets for sage and demon archers, this is where your decision lies. Below is a list of all skills, their different added bonuses for sage and demon, and which I think is better just for that skill.

Triple Spark
Demon – 25% rate increase to fire rate
Sage – 25% reduction in damage taken

Verdict – Demon Wins by a little bit
Both are nice, but demon definitely takes this one, although not by much. A 25% increase to attack speed allows you to eat through enemy HP that much faster. 25% damage reduction is very nice as it will definitely allow you to survive longer allowing you more time to kill but archers are a kill quick class not a tank class. Most people rarely burn 3 sparks for triple spark in PK though.

Chi Skill
Demon – Mo Tzu’s Taunt – Take 50 chi from an opponent
Sage – Master Li’s Technique – Gain 50 chi

Verdict – Toss up
Again, both are nice, the ability to gain chi every minute is great but it has twice the cooldown of the demon version. Sage allows you to use it while not in battle to prepare for battle, while the demon skill requires you wait for the enemy to come, and then use the skill instead of attacking. At the same time, being able to steal 50 chi twice as often as sage builds chi is pretty damn nice.

Blazing Arrow
Demon – Adds 120% fire damage for 20 seconds
Sage – Adds 60% fire damage permanent

Verdict – Sage Wins but it’s not too big a deal
Sage definitely takes this one because this skill isn’t worth casting constantly for a 20 second boost. A 10% increase in fire damage only equates to a 2% increase in total damage output, so although sage is better it’s not game changing.

Frost Arrow
Demon – 20% chance to cast without chi and gain 25 chi
Sage – Turns weapon damage into water damage

Verdict – Sage Wins by a lot
20% chance to get chi is nice but the low chance means it's unlikely. But adding another magic damage skill to the archer’s arsenal is amazing, especially when that magic damage skill also slows the enemy. You’ll be using this on BMs, Barbs, Seekers, and Sins; all classes where slow is EXTREMELY helpful. And for those that are going to say this isn’t worth the chi, you’re obviously not experienced PKers. Not only is slowing a heavy class opponent extremely helpful, chi shouldn’t be a problem with Awaken, Cloud Eruption, Apothecary, and Master Li’s Technique for the sage.

Sharp Tooth Arrow
Demon – 10% increase to critical strike for 10 seconds
Sage – Reduces HP by 20%

Verdict – Toss Up
Both of the skills are very nice! 10% increase to crit rate is a very nice addition. At the same time, against tanky toons, especially cata barbs, a permanent loss of an additional 5% of their HP is often the difference between killing them and their charm ticking again. Basically demon helps you kill faster, sage makes you a better supporter of your entire squad.

Lightning Strike
Demon – Never misses but increases cooldown 2 seconds
Sage – 25% chance to gain 20 chi

Verdict – Demon wins hands down
Having a magic skill that never misses is amazing and makes demon the obvious choice for this skill. The increase in cooldown sucks, but at least you know you hit the enemy. An additional 20 chi is nice, but with a 25% proc rate it’s really nothing to be happy about.

Thunder Shock
Demon – 10% chance to paralyze for 3 seconds
Sage – Increases metal debuff by 10 seconds

Verdict – Sage Wins
The 10% chance to paralyze means it will almost never happen, but increasing the length of the metal debuff means you’ll do more damage longer. The 10 second increase means you can even change targets to debuff 2 catabarbs at the same time and then use your metal AOE on both.

Thunderous Blast
Demon – Deals an additional 800 damage
Sage – Reduces channeling by .5 seconds and cooldown by 1 seconds

Verdict – Sage Wins by a lot
This is an amazing AOE, and the ability to cast it 20% faster and 15% more often makes sage not only the definite winner but gives them a huge advantage. An additional 800 damage is pretty much worthless with today’s gear.

Stormrage Eagleton
Demon – Slows enemy by 80% instead of 60%
Sage – Reduces magic and physical defense by 50%

Verdict – Sage Wins but has limited uses
Slowing the enemy by a larger amount is helpful, especially in nation wars where this is the only slow that still works even when anti-stun skills/apoth are in effect. But the ability to reduce all an enemy’s defenses by 50% makes your entire team able to kill more effectively. Unfortunately, the high chi cost of this skill means you won’t use it that often except in very specific circumstance (like an anti-stun catabarb or flag carrier).

Take Aim
Demon – Reduces charge time to 2.5 seconds from 3 seconds
Sage – Adds 500% weapon damage instead of 400%

Verdict – Sage Wins by a lot
This skill used to have no use in PVP but with the implementation of the archer stealth this skill is now amazing. Since the skill charges and doesn’t channel, you can cast it while in stealth, meaning the charge time is irrelevant; but an additional 100% weapon damage equates to 20% increase in the damage you do. When combined with crit rate increasing skills and attack level increasing genies you have a very real chance of 1-shotting people from stealth.

Quickshot
Demon – 50% chance to increase attack rate 30%
Sage – 100% chance to increase crit rate 20% for 10 seconds

Verdict – Toss up although Demon might take it if you have good luck
Quickshot was always the demon archer’s mainstay skill, now it’s the sage archer’s too. Both are very nice skills with demon version doing more damage output and sage version getting an awesome 100% proc rate. Additionally since this skills can be spammed with a cooldown of 3 seconds, sage archers can effectively have 20% permanent increase to crit rate and demon archers get increase attack rate 50% of the time. The nice thing for sage is with this one skill all the demon crit rate advantage has gone out the window.

Aim Low
Demon – 25% chance to stun for 3 seconds
Sage – 25% chance to seal for 5 seconds

Verdict – Sage wins by a lot
Both have a 25% chance to stun (seal and freeze equals stun) but the sage one is 2 seconds longer. There is no comparison between a 3 second stun and a 5 second stun.

Stunning Arrow
Demon – Increases crit rate by 10% for 10 seconds
Sage – Increases stun from 3.5 seconds to 5 seconds

Verdict – Sage Wins by a lot
You are using stunning arrow to stun your opponent, so having it stun for longer is far more beneficial than a 10 second increase in crit rate. Combine this with Quickshot and you have more crit and a longer stun.

Deadly Shot
Demon – Increases damage by 500
Sage – Removes distance penalty

Verdict – Sage wins by a lot but who cares
Having another skill that hits close range at full damage is a great thing but it’s worthless since the 3 second channeling time means you’d do more damage with normal attacks even at half damage. It’s a great skill in concept but ultimately you’d never use it.

Barrage
Demon – Hits every 2.5 seconds instead of 3 seconds
Sage – Reduces damage taken 33%

Verdict – Demon Wins by a lot
This is your best AOE by far, and it hitting 17% more often is ridiculously better than the increased survivability you get from 33% damage reduction. Don’t get me wrong, surviving in barrage longer with the 33% damage reduction is great, but it pales in comparison to the better attack.

Winged Blessing
Demon – Increases accuracy 10%, increases crit rate 2% when using free wings
Sage – Gives additional 2 meter range

Verdict – Demon wins
This is going to be a hotly debated issue. An additional 2 meters is actually a big deal especially if the demon doesn't use basic wings for the crit increase and only has a small increase in accuracy. There is a lot of stupidity about the 2-meters. First off, it MIGHT allow you to get ONE more shot in on a slowed enemy, but that’s doubtful. The real advantage to this is that you can freeze anyone but another sage archer at 34 meters away meaning they can’t attack back. And those that say you’ll never be at 34 meters away haven’t spent much time in TW or NW. The vast majority of the targets I’m attacking I’m freezing from max range cause they are focused on 20 other people in addition to me. All that being said, since it's looking at the skill by itself, not combined with other skills, Demon has to take this.

Winged Shell
Demon – Lasts 10 seconds longs
Sage – Absorbs an additional 250 damage

Verdict – Demon wins by a small margin
This skill definitely goes to demon, since it lasts longer meaning that you can cast it sooner and still have the advantage, which is better compared to absorbing a paltry 250 extra damage. At the same time, it's doubtful that you'll not gain the benefit from the Sage version before it wears off in a mass PVP environment. BTW, this skill is worth casting in game.

Winged Pledge
Demon – 25% chance to reduce enemy speed by 50% for 5 seconds
Sage – Reduces cooldown from 2 seconds to 1 second

Verdict – Sage definitely wins
This is your mainstay kill close to you skill when sins and BMs pop up and you can’t kite away. Being able to spam it is a nice advantage with the 1 second cooldown. Compare that to a 25% chance to slow the enemy, which is already standing next to you? Are you serious devs? Why would you slow an enemy that’s already next to you since we’ve already determined you can’t kite to your ranged advantage?

Wingspan
Demon – Casts a level 5 wingshell on yourself.
Sage – 20% chance to gain an additional 50 chi

Verdict – Demon wins
With how the game dynamics treat wingshell, a level 5 wingshell means each time you cast this you’ll be avoiding a nice chunk of damage. Unfortunately, you'll often cast this when a sin pops up next to you meaning he'll eat through the defense benefit before you notice it. 50 extra chi usually beats out anything but with a 20% proc rate it’s too unpredictable making it not very helpful.

Bow Mastery
Demon – Adds 1% crit rate when using basic wings - 2% if using basic white wings
Sage – Adds an additional 15% weapon damage

Verdict – Sage takes it by a small advantage
Assuming Demons get the 2% to crit rate sage still gets a small advantage. 15% of weapon damage translates to an additional 3% of final damage output, and of course an additional 2% crit rate is equal to 2% increase in final damage output. So sage gets 1% more damage output…which isn’t huge but it is a slight advantage. And please, if you can’t do math, don’t comment on this. 500% weapon damage increases damage output by 100% generally speaking (triple sparking doubles most peoples damage). So 15% weapon damage increase translates to 3% increase in damage output. Since crits double your damage, a 2% increase in crit rate means 2 more out of 100 hits will be double damage, meaning a 2% increase in average damage output.

Wings of Protection
Demon – Increases evasion by 10% more and speed by 5% more
Sage – Doubles evasion buff time and speed buff time by 5 minutes

Verdict – Demon wins by a lot
Better evasion from a skill that increases your evasion is so obviously better than not having to cast it as often. And people who think evasion isn't worthwhile aren't watching all the misses melee classes do...that's 100% damage reduction.


SUMMATION
Don't take your cultivation based on which one has more skills that beat out the other cultivation. You need to look at the skills as a whole and see how you prefer to play your toon.

I personally think Sage beats Demon cultivation but it isn’t an obvious choice and is largely on my play style. Both cultivations have significant advantages and it does definitely come down to play-style. From a pure damage output perspective, however, Sage cultivation provides a higher crit rate and a higher base damage if you have the mana to keep Quickshot up.

Let the emotional flames begin...